Baffle vent for air supported building



May 25, 1965 w. w. BIRD ETAL 3,185,165

BAFFLE VENT FOR AIR SUPPORTED BUILDING Original Filed May 2. 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet l MWZZ/Ziffm ATTORNE YS May 25, 1965 w.w.B1RD ErAL BAFFLE VENT FOR AIR SUPPORTED BUILDING Original Filed May 2, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 `s'c/mvan ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,185,165 BAFFLE VENT FOR AR SUPPURTED BDING Walter W. Bird, Williamsvilie, George F. Reitmeier, East Aurora, and Anson T. Baschmann, Elma, N.Y., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Original application May 2, 1960, Ser. No. 26,3%, new Patent No. 3,150,670. Divided and this applicatien May 7, 1964, Ser. No. 37I,865

6 Claims. (Cl. 13S-14) The present application is a division of Serial No. 26,382, iiled May 2, 1960 for Quickly Strikable Air Supported Building tructure, now Patent No. 3,150,670, issued September 29, 1964.

Inllatable building structures comprising a substantially airtight envelope erected and supported by maintaining the air in the envelope under a pressure somewhat greater than atmospheric have been increasingly utilized because of their many advantages, such as ease of erection and striking, the freedom of the interior thereof from obstructions so that a large storage space is provided, and the ready` adaptability of these structures to manufacture in the various sizes and Shapes required for various housing or storage needs. This has led to the use of these structures by the Armed Forces for various purposes.

Oftentimes it is necessary, or desirable, to bleed off air from the interior of the shelter structure. This allows foul i air, warm air, highly humid air, or such to be replaced by air introduced under slight pressure by a powered blower or other apparatus. The present invention provides venting apparatus for this purpose which is simple, inexpensive and unlikely to get out of order.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view;

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic layout or plan view oi the improved baffle, near the right end of FIG. 1, for controlling the venting of air from an air erected and supported building structure;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary vertical transverse sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of FIG. 1.

As best seen in FIG. 1, the building structure of the present invention comprises an elongated main compartment of substantially semicylindrical transverse section and having spherically rounded ends 22 and 24, and a much smaller second or auxiliary compartment 26 of the same general shape centered upon the longitudinal center line at the front end of the main compartment. The main compartment 20 comprises a pair of duplicate complementary sections 28 and 30, the line of division or separation between the sections coinciding substantially with the longitudinal center line of the main compartment and thus with the ridge line of this compartment as indicated at 32 in FIG. 1.

Each of the two half sections 28 and 30 is formed from a plurality of panels 34 which, contrary to the usual practice, extend longitudinally of the structure. These panels may be made from any suitable tough and flexible substantially airtight material. The panels have generally parallel edges throughout the major portion of their length but these edges taper to a declining width adjacent both ends thereof as seen in FIG. 1.

The two adjacent positionable half sections 28 and 30 are releasably secured together to form the main compartment 20 by any suitable separable fasteners, such as a Zipper, and buttons 70, as set out in Patent No. 3,150,670.

As best seen in FIG. 1, the auxiliary compartment, which may be made of the same material as the main compartment, comprises a plurality of elongated panels cemented together along the overlapping edges thereof, two of the panels being shown at 206 and 20S in FIG. 1, which form the main body of the auxiliary compartment.

3,185,165 Patented May 25, 1965 ICC The front end of this compartment is'closed by a series of tapered panels 210 overlappedalong the longitudinal edges thereof and cemented or bonded together along these edges and to the front edges of the panels 206. These panels-join at their upper ends in a crown 212;

The air required to erectthe Vhousing structure and maintain the same erected is furnished by a power-driven blower 230, FIG. 1, of suitable capacity having a discharge conduit 232 communicating with the interior of the main compartment 20 adjacent the lower forward end thereof. The capacity of the b lower will, of course, vary with the size of the main compartment 20 but it should be sufficient to maintain a pressure differential of between 1% and 11/2 inch of water (.04 p.s.i.) so that the building structure will be able to withstand wind, rain, and snoW. Preferably, a flap valve (not shown) is provided to preveut the back ilow of air to the blower from the main compartment should the blower stop accidentally.

Access to the interior of the erected main compartment 20 may be had through suitably located personnel access doors.

While there is bound to be some leakage of air from the erected building structure herein described in such areas as the slide fastener connections between the half sections 28 and 39 and at the entrance doors, for example, this is of advantage because it tends to ventilate the closed structure, and it is of no particular disadvantage because thel capacity of the blower 230 need be increased only slightly to compensate for this loss. Additional ventilation or venting where that is necessary, as for example during hot Weather, is obtained by an improved venting means disclosed in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. As best seen in FIG. 1, the main compartment 20 is provided with a vent opening 238 at the rear endthereof adjacent the central ridge line 32. This opening may be reinforced by framing the same with rings 240 and 242 (FIG. 3) of the same material as the main compartment fixed to the inner and outer sides, respectively, of the half section 28. A door or baille 244 of flexible material, similar to the material of which the main compartment is made, is provided to control cornrnunication through the vent opening. This baille is mounted on llexible traclr-forming slides comprising a pair of light ropes 246 and 24d fixed at the opposite ends thereof to the underside of the half section 28 so as to extend in parallel relation centered relative to the vent opening 238. The lower ends of the ropes 246 and 24S are fixed at a level somewhat below the level of the vent opening 238, and the upper ends are fixed at a level far enough above the top edge of the main opening so that the baille 244 may be raised far enough on the rope slides 246, 248 completely to uncover the Vent opening 238.

The top and bottom edges of the baille 244 are stiilened by rigid rods 250 xed thereto as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, and are provided with aligned apertures 252 and 254 adjacent the lateral edges thereof provided with eyelets 256 to reinforce the same. These aligned eyelets in the top and bottom edges of the baille 244 are in turn aligned with a series of grommets 258 projecting from the back side of the baffle 244 adjacent the opposite lateral edges thereof. These eyelets and grommets are receivable upon slide ropes 246, 248, as seen in FIG. 3, so as to provide a sliding connection between the baille and slide ropes.

The baille 244 is moved along the slide ropes 246, 248 by halyards comprising an endless rope 260 connected at the opposite ends thereof to the top and bottom edges of the baille 244 and passing over a sheave or pulley 262 connected to the underside of the half section 28 centered relative to the longitudinal center line of the rope slides 246, 248 and spaced upwardly of the level at Which the upper ends of these rope slides are connected to the half section 23 so that the battle 244 can be fully raised by 3 pulling in the right direction on rope halyard k269. The lower loop of the halyard is brought downwardly through a series of grommets 264 on the inner side of the half section 28 to a readily accessible location near the rear end of the main compartment as shownin FIGS. 1 and 3..

To equalize the pull across the top and bottom edgesof the baille 244, the opposite ends of the rope 260 are connected thereto by divergent pulls 266 and268 of equalV 1. In an air-erected and supported building'st'ructure comprising a substantially airtight ilexible envelope constantly maintained under a pressure in excess kof atmospheric to maintain the structure erected and having a vent opening in one portion of the wall thereof, a baille closure of ilexible material to close said vent opening, exible track-forming slides adjacent opposite sides of said vent opening, said track-forming slides being displaced laterally inwardly from the edges of said baille closure means to form a sliding connection between said baille closure and said ilexible slides comprising grommetsattached to said baille closure and engaging said slides to guide said baille closure as same is opened or closed, and halyards connected to directly opposite sides of said baille closure forV pulling the same in opposite directions along said slides to expose more or less of saidvent opening.

2. In an air-erected `and supported building structure comprising a substantially airtight llexible envelope constantly maintained under a pressure in excess of atmospheric to maintain the structure erected and having a vent opening in one portion of the wall thereof, a baille closure of flexible material to close said vent opening, ilexible track-forming slides adjacent opposite sides of said vent opening, said track-forming slides being displaced laterally inwardly from the edges of said baille closure means to form a sliding connection between said baille closure and said ilexible -slides comprising grommets Vattached to'saidA baille closure and engaging said slides to guide said baille closure as same is opened or closed, halyards to slide said baille closure in opposite'directions along said slides and expose more or less of said vent'opening, anda connection between said halyards and baille closure to insure that the force in either direction applied by said halyards to said baille closure will be uniformly distributed across said baille closure so as to maintain the later relatively ilat at all times.

3. An air-erected and supported building structure as Vdeilned in claim 2 wherein said track-forming slides are of suillcient length so that the baille closure may be moved far enough in opposite directions completely to expose or completely to cover said vent opening at the extremes in its range of movement. v i

V4. In an air-erected and supportedV building structure comprising a substantiallyl airtightilexibley envelope constantly maintained under a pressure in excess of atmosk pheric to maintain the structure erected and having a vent opening in one portion of the wall thereo'fpa baille closure of flexible material to close said vent opening, a pair of ilexible cords xed at the opposite ends thereof to said envelope to locate the same in close proximity and substantially parallel to ,the inner side thereof, means comprising grommets on said baille closure engaging said pair of llexible cords to form a sliding connection between said baille closure and said cords, flexible halyards longitudinally of thesaid edge and said grommets are.

the sliding connectionbetween said baille closure andcords includes aseries of grommets extending inwardly from the linwardly facing side of said baille closure adjacent one pair of kopposite edges thereof in spaced relation slidably receivable upon said cords.

y 6. A building structure asdeilned in claim 4 whereinz the connection between said halyards and baille closure comprises stiilening means extending `across and ilxed to those edges of said baille closure'whichfspansaid pair of cords and the halyards are connected by means of divergent cords of equal length extending from the. ends of said halyards to points adjacent theropposite ends of the stiilened edges of said baille closure.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,068,503 7/13 Kenyon 13S-14 1,728,074 9/29 Nicholas 160-84 1,888,014 11/32 Powers 135-14 HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

REINALDO P. MACHADO, Examiner. 

1. IN AN AIR-ERECTED AND SUPPORTED BUILDING STRUCTURE COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY AIRTIGHT FLEXIBLE ENVELOPE CONSTANTLY MAINTAINED UNDER A PRESSURE IN EXCESS OF ATMOSPHERIC TO MAINTAIN THE STRUCTURE ERECTED AND HAVING A VENT OPENING IN ONE PORTION OF THE WALL THEREOF, A BAFFLE CLOSURE OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL TO CLOSE SAID VENT OPENING, FLEXIBLE TRACK-FORMING SLIDES ADJACENT OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID VENT OPENING, SAID TRACK-FORMING SLIDES BEING DISPLACED LTERALLY INWARDLY FROM THE EDGES OF SAID BAFFLE CLOSURE MEANS TO FORM A SLIDING CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID BAFFLE CLOSURE AND SAID FLEXIBLE SLIDES COMPRISING GROMMETS ATTACHED TO SAID BAFFLE CLOSURE AND ENGAGING SAID SLIDES TO GUIDE SAID BAFFLE CLOSURE AS SAME IS OPENED OR CLOSED, AND HALYARDS CONNECTED TO DIRECTLY OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID BAFFLE CLOSURE FOR PULLING THE SAME IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS ALONG SAID SLIDES TO EXPOSE MORE OR LESS OF SAID VENT OPENING. 